SMICRORNIS. 



191 



Distribution.— 'tsoTth-western Australia, Northern Territory of South Australia, Northern 

 Queensland, Central Australia. 



/"fi^HE Yellow-tinted Scrub-Tit is the smallest bird yet found inhabiting Australia, 

 I measuring,' barely three inches and a quarter in lenf^th, and from i-8 to 1-95 inches 

 in win,i,'-measurement. It is distributed right across the northern portion of the continent. 

 Gilbert obtained specimens at Port Essington, and the late Mr. E. Spalding procured 

 examples near Port Darwin. Mr. Gulliver found it near Normanton, in the Gulf District, 

 and Mr. .Munt has obtained its nest and eggs a siiort distance inland from Cooktown. At 

 Derby, North-western .Vustralia, it was obtained respectively by Mr. E. J. Cairn and the late 

 Mr. T. H. Bowyer-Bower in i885, and by Mr. G. A. Keartland in 1896-7 near the junction of 

 the Fitzroy and Margaret Rivers, who also procured examples in 1894, in Central Australia, 

 where Mr. C. E. Cowle has on several occasions taken its nests and eggs. 



Relative to this species Mr. G. A. Keartland has kindly sent me the following notes: — "I 

 first met with these little birds in the gullies of the West Macdonnell Ranges, in Central 

 Australia, in June, 1894. They were generally found in the largest eucalyptus trees, seeming 

 to prefer the topmost branches. Their note is very hnid in proportion to the size of the bird, 

 and they indulge in a very pretty song. Although several may be heard in a gully, it seldom 

 happens that more than two birds are in the same tree. They are extremely active in quest 

 of insects, etc., amongst the foliage, and keep up a constant twitter as they perform all manner 

 of antics amongst the drooping leaves. During the latter part of my stay at the Fitzroy River, 

 North-western Australia, in 1897, I found them under similar circumstances, but there is very 

 little doubt that they like to be in the neighbourhood of a good water supply, as I never saw 

 them far from either a well or the river. The sexes are alike in plumage, and I am of opinion 

 that age makes very little difference in their appearance. I skinned one bird that I saw being 

 fed by another. It was evidently a young one. Both fell at the one shot, and I had difficulty 

 in deciding which was the recipient of the food until I dissected them. Their nests are usually 

 placed in the drooping foliage of a gum or mulga." 



A nest of this species, found during April, 1898, near lUamurta, Central Australia, by Mr. 

 C. E. Cowle, is a small dome-shaped structure, with a narrow entrance protected by a hood 

 near the top. It is compactly formed of the partially green stems of herbaceous plants inter- 

 mingled with plant down, the walls and bottom being very thick, and the inside lined with 

 the latter material and a few feathers, among them being one of Platyccrcus zonarius. It 

 is beautifully woven together, resembling somewhat in appearance the nest of Diaeum 

 Mrundinaceum, but larger, and is composed of finer materials than I have seen used by 

 Smicvovnis hyevirostvis. Externally it measures three inches and a half in height by two inches 

 and a half in diameter, and across the narrow entrance near the top one inch. It was attached 

 to the thin leafy stems of a mulga, at a height of four feet from the ground, and contained 

 three fresh eggs, one of which Mr. Cowle unfortunately broke. 



Eggs two or three in number for a sitting, oval or elongate oval in form, the shell being 

 close-grained, smooth, and slightly lustrous. Two eggs of the set from the above nest, and 

 which are now in Mr. Keartland's collection, are of a creamy-buff ground colour, one specimen 

 having a zone of indistinct creamy-brown markings on the larger end, the other being sparingly 

 but uniformly freckled over the shell with dull purplish-brown, the markings becoming con- 

 fluent and of a faint violet shade on the larger end, where a cap is formed. They measure: — 

 (A) 0-57 X 0-42 inches; (B) 0-57 x 0-42 inches. Another egg, taken at Illamurta, by Mr. Cowle, 

 from a nest built in a gum sapling measures o-6 x 0-47 inches. A set of two eggs in Mr. J. 

 Gabriel's collection, also taken by Mr. Cowle in Central .Vustralia, measures: — (A) 0-58 x 0-42 

 inches; (B) 0'58 x 0-43 inches. 



